the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem

Of course, the problem with that is that you can rephrase the problem in such a way that it's no longer a problem.  Blink twice if you understood that.

Anyway, the original problem could be that it is impossible for me to show restraint in the face, er, taste of wine.  Before our trip, Kim and i agreed that we would only buy wine that blew us away.  So how did we end up with 22 bottles of wine?  Is there truly that much great wine in the Paso Robles area?  Did visiting 11 wineries in two days overwhelm our gustation and diminish our judgement?  Are there evil wine gnomes sitting on our shoulders, whispering irresistible suggestions?

I'm going with "gnomes".

( anyway, here's the wine )

Most of the above were recommended by the fine folks in wine and in_vino_veritas.  Linne Calodo, Norman, Eberle, and Tobin James had canine greeters, which is a plus for any winery.  We probably could've skipped the Problem Child, but the `01 was so good, it deserved another chance.  I walked away without the two wines i expressly wanted to purchase on this trip: Wild Horse's négrette (which was sold out) and York Mountain's black muscat (which sold out six months ago and will no longer be made because the source vineyards were ripped up and the land was turned into housing [WTFF!!!!]).  I wish we'd had the chance to pick up a bottle of Turley's charbono, but we tested the limits of our endurance, monetarily and toxicologically, as it was.  I noticed that the wineries on the west side of 101 had, on average, more expensive wines than the ones on the east side (Justin and Linne Calodo would fit in, pricewise, at Napa).  We saw a lot of roussanne, but none of them are worth mentioning.

In the future, i think we really ought to stick to four wineries per day, topping out at five only if it's a one-day trip.  Even with sharing one tasting instead of having one each, pouring stuff out, and drinking plenty of water, we definitely got wine fatigue.  At Tobin James, our final winery, my mouth was fuzzed out by tannins and no amount of miniature breadsticks and water could fully clear them out (their wines all had the most amazing nose, though).  And now, the final challenge is finding space for all this damn wine!

the first step to solving a problem is admitting you have a problem

Of course, the problem with that is that you can rephrase the problem in such a way that it's no longer a problem.  Blink twice if you understood that.

Anyway, the original problem could be that it is impossible for me to show restraint in the face, er, taste of wine.  Before our trip, Kim and i agreed that we would only buy wine that blew us away.  So how did we end up with 22 bottles of wine?  Is there truly that much great wine in the Paso Robles area?  Did visiting 11 wineries in two days overwhelm our gustation and diminish our judgement?  Are there evil wine gnomes sitting on our shoulders, whispering irresistible suggestions?

I'm going with "gnomes".

( anyway, here's the wine )

Most of the above were recommended by the fine folks in wine and in_vino_veritas.  Linne Calodo, Norman, Eberle, and Tobin James had canine greeters, which is a plus for any winery.  We probably could've skipped the Problem Child, but the `01 was so good, it deserved another chance.  I walked away without the two wines i expressly wanted to purchase on this trip: Wild Horse's négrette (which was sold out) and York Mountain's black muscat (which sold out six months ago and will no longer be made because the source vineyards were ripped up and the land was turned into housing [WTFF!!!!]).  I wish we'd had the chance to pick up a bottle of Turley's charbono, but we tested the limits of our endurance, monetarily and toxicologically, as it was.  I noticed that the wineries on the west side of 101 had, on average, more expensive wines than the ones on the east side (Justin and Linne Calodo would fit in, pricewise, at Napa).  We saw a lot of roussanne, but none of them are worth mentioning.

In the future, i think we really ought to stick to four wineries per day, topping out at five only if it's a one-day trip.  Even with sharing one tasting instead of having one each, pouring stuff out, and drinking plenty of water, we definitely got wine fatigue.  At Tobin James, our final winery, my mouth was fuzzed out by tannins and no amount of miniature breadsticks and water could fully clear them out (their wines all had the most amazing nose, though).  And now, the final challenge is finding space for all this damn wine!